Mail-bag catcher and deliverer.



c. 11. FRIGKE & J. YELIGK.

. Patented July 4, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

0. G'Ei/07i6 and 0. G. PRIGK'E & J. YBLIGK. I MAIL BAG GATGHER ANDDELIVEBER.

v AP-PLIOATIQN FILED DEO.12,1910. 99 35, Patented July 4, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CARL GEORG FRICKE AND JAMES YELICK, OF PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA.

MAIL-BAG CATCHER AND DELIVER-ER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1911.

Application filed December 12, 1910. Serial No. 596,792.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CARL G. Fnionn and J AMES YELIoK, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Plattsmouth, in the county of Cass and Stateof Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMail-Bag Catchers and Deliver-ers, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention is an improved mail bag attaching and deliveringapparatus for use on a mail car and at a station to enable mail to bedelivered from or taken on by a mail car while the train is in motion,and without the necessity of stopping for that purpose, the inventionconsisting in the construction, combination and arrangement of deviceshereinafter described and claimed.-

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mailbag attaching and delivering apparatus constructed in accordance withour invention, showing one member thereof at a fixed point and the othermember mounted on a mail car. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view throughone of the bearings of the axle of the car crane. Fig. 3 is a detailplan showing parts of the crane axle and also showing the operatinglever for the crane, and the toothed annulus for locking the said leverto the crane axle. Fig. 41 is a detail elevation of one of thesuspending rings or links. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of one armof the car crane, and Fig. 6 is a plan of the same. Fig. 7 is a detailelevation of one end of one of the arms of the crane which is mounted atthe station.

In accordance with this invention, we provide a pair of cranes 1, 2which are respectively mounted at a station at one side of and near thetrack, and in the doorway of a mail car. The crane 1 comprises avertical post 4 which is provided at its upper end with a horizontallydisposed outwardly extending arm 5. A bar 6 is disposed transverselywith respect to the arm 5 at a point at a suitable distance from theouter end thereof, the said bar extending in opposite directions fromthe arm 5 and being provided near each end with an upturned off set 7from which extends a finger 8. The said finger is rectangular in crosssection and presents flattened upper and lower sides, and vertical sideed es. Each finger is provided on its upper si e near its outer end witha transverse groove or recess 9, and is also provided with a spring 10,one end of which is secured on the finger as at 11, the outer end of thespring bearing on the finger, extending across and over the groove orrecess 9, and the extreme end of the said spring being upturned andcurved as at 12.

The crane 2 comprises an arm 13 at the inner end of which is ahorizontally dis posed axle 14, the ends of which are respectivelymounted in a bearing box or casing 15, secured in one side of thedoorway of the mail car, and in a bearing block 16 secured in the otherside of said doorway. Hence the crane 2 is mounted to sWing in avertical plane, may be lowered to extend outwardly from one side of thecar in a horizontal position, and may be raised so as to dispose thesame entirely in the doorway of the mail car so as not to project fromthe outer side of the mail car. That portion of the axle 1 1 which is inthe casing 15 is provided with 'a stop ratchet 17 which has shoulders orteeth 18, 19, at opposite sides, the shoulder or tooth 18 being on thelower side of the said ratchet 17, when the crane 2 is turned so as todispose its arm 13 in a horizontal position. The casing 15 is providedin its lower side with a lug 20 which engages the shoulder or tooth 18,and hence coacts therewith to support the crane 2 in lowered horizontalposition. hen the crane 2 is turned upwardly to a vertical posit-ion,and disposed within the doorway of the mail car, the tooth or shoulder19 is engaged by a pawl 21 which is disposed in the casing 15, and ispivotally mounted at its upper end as at 22. A spring 23 is secured inone side of the casing, and bears against the said pawl to engage thelatter with the shoulder or tooth 19. A hand lever 24; is provided whichis pivotally mounted as at 25, in the casing 15, the arm of the saidlever projecting rearwardly from and operating in a slot 26 in the rearor inner side of the casing 15, and the said lever being furtherprovided with a finger 27 which engages a re cess 28 in the free end ofthe pawl 21. It will be understood that by means of the said hand lever,the said pawl may be disengaged from the shoulder or tooth 19, to permitthe crane 2 to be lowered and extended from the mail car.

On the axle 14: at a point at the center thereof, is a fixed annulus 29which is provided on one side with segmental teeth 30 which may beengaged with or disengaged from the teeth 33 of the hub portion 32 of ahandle or lever 31 which is loose on said axle. By first engaging theteeth of the said lever With those of the .axle 14, said lever may beemployed for raising or lowering the crane 2 and when said lever is notin use, its teeth may be disengaged from the teeth 30, and the leverpermitted by gravity to swing downwardly from the axle 14, out of theway.

The crane arm 13 is provided at a suitable distance from its outer endwith a cross arm 34 which is provided near its end with offset upwardlyextending portions 35, and with oppositely extending cylindrical studs36 at the outer ends of the said offsets. On each of the said studs isswivelly mounted the inner end of a finger 37 so that said fingers areadapted to turn angularly with respect to the said cross arm 34 of thecar crane in a vertical plane. Each of the said fingers is provided atits outer end with a recess 38. The outer end of each finger 37 isbeveled and inclined upwardly and outwardly so that the upper portion ofthe outer end of each finger 37 extends beyond and overhangs the lowerportion thereof and each of the said fingers 37 is also pro- .vided witha spring catch 39, the horizontal inner portion of which is secured tothe under side of the said finger, the upwardly and outwardly inclinedarm 40 of the said spring catch extending across and above the outer endof the recess 38. Each finger 37 is rectangular in form at its outerportion cross sectionally so that it presents fiat upper and lower sidesand vertical side edges. We also provide links 41 for suspending mailbags from the cranes so that a bag suspended from the car crane will betaken off by the station crane, and a bag suspended from the stationcrane will be taken off by the car crane. Each link 41 comprises arelatively large arm 42 and a relatively small arm 43, at one end of thelarge arm. The arm 43 is rectangular in form and the width of theopening 44 therein, slightly exceeds the 'width of the fingers of thecranes so that the finger of either of the cranes may be inserted in thesaid arm. The relatively large arm 42 exceeds the di mensions of thesmaller arm 43 both in i length and width and the opening 45. in thelarge arm is of sufiicient size to readily receive the cross arm ofeither of the cranes. An eye 46 is at the outer end of the smaller arm43 and a smaller eye 47 is at the outer ii? end of the large arm 42.

The operation of our invention is as follows: The cranes are so disposedand ar ranged that when the car crane 2 is lowered, and the mail carpasses a station, the cross arm 34 of the car crane will pass directlybelow the cross arm 6 of the station crane 1. To dellver a mail bag fromthe car, the mail bag will be attached by means of a snap hook or othersimilar device to the eye 46 of one of the links 41, and the smaller arm43 of the said link will be disposed on the finger 37 at the rear sideof the car crane with a portion of the lower side of the said link arm43 in the recess 38 and engaged by the spring arm 40 of the catch 39.Hence the larger arm 42 of the said link will extend above the cross armof the car crane. As the car crane moves under and pastthe stationcrane, one end of the cross arm 6 of the station crane will enter theopening 45 in the larger arm of the link 41, and the sides of the saidlink will strike against the arm 5 of the station crane and also againstthe projecting outer end 5 of said arm, and hence said arm and itsprojection will disengage the link from the notch 38, and from thefinger 37, and the said link will hang, by its larger arm from thestation crane and with the mail bag sus pended therefrom.

In order to take on a mail bag from the station crane, while the car ispassing the same, and without necessity of stopping the car, a mail bagwill be suspended from the eye 47 at the outer end of the larger arm ofone of the links and the smaller arm 43 of the link will be placed onthe finger 8 which points in the direction in which the trainis moving,or in other words, the finger on the rear side of the station crane.This leaves the larger arm of the link below the cross arm of thestation crane, and in the path of the cross arm of the carcrane, andhence as the car crane moves under and past the station crane, theforward end of its cross arm 34 will pass through the said larger arm ofthe link, the crane arm 13, and its extension 13 will simultaneouslystrike oppositevsides of the said large arm of the link and the linkwill be drawn from the finger 8, the spring catch 12 releasing thesmaller arm 43 of the link from the said finger, as will be understood.

It will be obvious that by appropriately hanging mail bags from the carcrane, and the station crane as thus described, our improved mail bagcatching and delivering apparatus may be employed to simultaneouslydeliver a mail bag from a moving car and take on a mail bag from astation, as the car passes the same.

We claim 7 1. The combination of a fixed crane having an arm, extendingtoward and at right angles to a railway track, and provided with a crossarm parallel with the track, a car crane also having an arm at rightangles to the track, and a cross arm parallel therewith, the cross armof one of the cranes beingarranged to pass above that of theother, and alink for suspending a mail bag from the cross arm of either of saidcranes, said link having a relatively small arm and a relatively largearm, each of said arms being provided with means for attaching a mailbag thereto.

2. The combination of a fixed crane having an arm extending toward andat right angles to a railway track, and provided with a cross armparallel with the track, a car crane also having an arm, at right anglesto the track, and a cross arm parallel therewith, the cross arm of oneof the cranes being arranged to pass above that of the other, and a linkfor suspending a mail bag from the cross arm of either of said cranes,said link having a relatively small arm and a relatively large arm, eachof the said arms being provided with means for attaching a mail bagthereto, and each crane having its arm provided with an extensionprojecting beyond the outer side of its said cross arm for the purposesset forth.

8. In combination with a fixed receiving crane, a car crane having ahorizontally disposed axle, bearings for the said axle, a ratchet stopon said axle, and provided with oppositely disposed stop shoulders, afixed stop lug to engage one of said shoulders,

and a pawl to engage the other, said fixed stop and one of the shouldersof said ratchet stop serving to support the car crane in a downturnedhorizontal position, the other shoulder of said ratchet stop and thesaid pawl coacting to support the said car crane in upturned verticalposition.

4:. In apparatus of the class described, a car crane mounted to swing ina vertical plane, and having a cross arm, fingers swivelly mounted onthe ends of said cross arm and a link for engagement with either of saidfingers to suspend a mail bag therefrom, said swivelly mounted fingersenabling said link to remain in vertical position irrespective of theposition of said crane.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in the presence oftwo witnesses.

CARL GEORG FRIGKE. JAMES YELICK.

Witnesses J. G. When, A. S. T101).

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

